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Interview With Patrick Gildea

Patrick Gildea, 26, a University of Tennessee grad who runs for the New York Athletic Club, was ninth in the 12K at the USA Cross Country Championships in New York in February and was recently named to the World's team.

Patrick Gildea, 26, a University of Tennessee grad who runs for the New York Athletic Club, was ninth in the 12K at the USA Cross Country Championships in New York in February, apparently missing the sixth spot on the U.S. team for World Cross Country by six seconds. But three runners ahead of him have declined to do the 12K at the Worlds in Japan on April 2, so Gildea has moved onto the American team. Gildea ran 29:09 for 10,000 meters while a Tennessee undergrad, and his best NCAA finish in the event was a 15th in 2003. He has since lowered his PR to 28:38. He was seventh in the 10,000 at the 2005 USA Championships on the track in 28:39. He was 13th in the 2005 USA 8K on Randall's Island in New York. The 5'5"? Gildea is originally from Holbrook, NY but is now back in Knoxville working with Coach George Watts. We spoke with Gildea by phone on Thursday, March 9 while he was at the airport, waiting for a delayed flight to Florida where he was to compete in the North America, Central American, and Caribbean (NACAC) Cross Country Championships on Saturday. Gildea placed ninth at the NACAC meet as the U.S. men's squad finished second to Mexico in the team competition.

Runner's World Daily: When you finished USA Cross country and came in ninth, did you have conversations with anybody that made you think you might be on the six-man 12K team anyway?Patrick Gildea: A little bit. Kevin Hanson had said something. But I had left the meet thinking 'okay, that's it, it's over.' I was just going to go about doing what I would have done had I not qualified. I kind of forgot about it and didn't think anything of it. I wasn't clinging to the hope, because I wasn't going to sit there and hope guys were going to get injured. I just kind of sat back and said 'well, it wasn't in the cards, so what are you doing to do?' and kind of forgot about it from there. As it happened, I guess some things worked out in my favor. It was unfortunate for Dathan (Ritzenhein) to pull out the way he did. In any case, I'm eager to go and it should be fun, I think (Jorge Torres, who qualified in the 12K, elected to concentrate solely on the 4K race at World Cross Country, and Henry Dennis, who'd placed eighth, declined a spot on the U.S. team).

RWD: How were you informed you'd be going to Japan?PG: Dave Martin called me on Wednesday of last week. It was kind of "you might have to be ready to go, we're not sure yet, because Dathan's going to go for some blood work and what not," and I said 'well, okay, I guess now if I'm in the running, if the opportunity presents itself, yes, I'd definitely like to go.' Then Thursday came and it was 90-95 percent that the spot was going to open up and I said 'well, if it's 100 percent tomorrow, then I'm 100 percent in.' Friday came and it was a done deal, he (Ritzenhein) was not going to be able to go.

RWD: That's an unusual way to get the spot, but you've got to be excited that you're on a national team and headed to Japan.PG: Of course. It's my first U.S. team. It would have been nice if I'd finished in the top six and assured myself a spot in the first place, but you know, it's not the worst thing in the world to be the alternate, I guess. I'll take it. It's a World Championships team. It's my first one. No matter which way it came about it, it's still an important one.

RWD: Had you been going about your business, deciding what you were going to do next?PG: Actually, the NACAC was kind of a consolation for not qualifying for the World team. The NACAC didn't really fit in that well with NOT racing the World Championships, but now it actually works out pretty well, because I get a race in and see where things are at and then I'll be able to adjust accordingly over the next two weeks. So it was going to be NACAC and then probably something shorter another couple of weeks from now and then the Cardinal Invitational (at Stanford) in the middle of April. The approach now is going to the same except I'll have another cross country meet in there.

RWD: Will you do the 10,000 at the Cardinal Invitational?PG: Yeah, that's going to be where it's at for me. Nothing shorter.

RWD: You were fifth in the early going at Van Cortlandt. Are you someone who normally goes out hard?PG: I felt fine. I made a stupid mental error. When I should have made a move with 2K to go and assured myself a spot, I didn't. Those guys obviously closed really, really well and I just couldn't match it the last 800 meters.

RWD: It seems like since you got out of the University of Tennessee, you've improved tremendously.PG: Yeah, I think so. I went from being your typical 29:00 10K college guy--actually, I had a rough patch when I first graduated, trying to figure out how do I fit running in now without the school part of it. I actually went to the Hansons for a little while. Something wasn't right, it didn't feel right, so I came back to Knoxville and finally improved upon my PR last year and ran 28:38. I wasn't anything special coming out of college--like I said, your typical 29:00, 14:00 (5K) guy. I made it to a couple of NCAA Cross Country meets (championships) and only one outdoor meet.

RWD: What do you think is behind the improvement?PG: Just doing whatever my coach tells me to do, really. I don't know if there's quite a secret yet. If there is, maybe I'll find it this year and run even faster. So far, it's just been doing the same thing that all the other guys do, grinding it out day in and day out. I'll give you a quote from Todd Williams, from Tennessee. He always says "you've got to push the envelope." I'm always thinking 'try to push, push, push.'? I have a pretty good support staff that makes it a little easier to go through that grind every day. I have a weight room, I have a massage therapist, and then my training partners and my coach (George Watts). He goes above and beyond what a lot of coaches do. He hasn't done me wrong yet. He always seems to steer me in the right direction.?RWD: Besides pushing the envelope, in terms of the things that you do, what's really changed since the college days?PG: Well, ?knock on wood, I've had well over a year where I've had no real major injuries. A couple of little flare-ups, but nothing that's ever kept me out for a day of running. I've taken my days off here and there for recovery purposes, but I've never had to miss a day in the last year for an injury. I think just being able to find that consistency, I've been able to hit the nail on the head. I've had a fortunate amount of luck and I've just been able to keep building and building and building. Not too much has changed. The intensity always increases in each training segment, and the mileage increases a little bit, but I'm not doing anything insane. I'm not running 130 miles a week or anything like that. Usually, I run 90 to 100 miles a week. A couple of mornings a week, I'll wake up and run with the guys on the UT squad. I still meet with the team as if I were in school. I like to have that schedule. I'm pretty regimented that way. There are two or three days a week when I do my own thing just because I have to work or whatnot, but the majority of the days of the week, I'm out there at 3:00 getting barked at the same way the other guys are.

RWD: What kind of work of are you doing, and for how many hours?PG: Just 20 to 25 hours a week at The Runner's Market in town (Knoxville).

RWD: You started college at Seton Hall in New Jersey. What made you switch to Tennessee?PG: Well, I had kind of made the commitment to myself that I wanted to improve on my running career and be a better runner. I had known Anthony (Famiglietti) and a couple of other guys who had come down here (to Tennessee), so it was kind of the New York connection thing that worked its way out. Obviously, it just kind of went from there. I made a visit and decided I wanted to come here. I enjoyed living down here. I can get my training in. I can stay focused. I don't have too many distractions that pull me away from what I need to do.

RWD: You ran in high school out on Long Island. How good were you there?PG: Not exceptional. I was your basic 9:30, 4:25 (two-miler and miler). ?I ran 16:05 at Van Cortlandt for 5K (cross country). Not a superstud by any means.

RWD: Did you get an athletic scholarship to Seton Hall?PG: No, I did not, actually, because at the time, I came down with an injury that I thought was the end of my running career. I went to Seton Hall just as a regular student, no athlete. I ended up meeting up with some guys who were on the team and I started getting back into running that way. It turned out the injury just needed about a year to heal. So my freshman year, I didn't run. I thought I had compartment syndrome. One doctor wanted to operate right away. I just said 'forget that, I'm not going to get surgery.' But I didn't run for almost a year.

RWD: We saw you listed as 5'5" and 115 pounds. That makes you and Max King the smaller U.S. distance runners out there.PG: Yeah, I guess we are. This weekend will be the first time I meet him (King placed third at NACAC).

RWD: Do you expect your situation will stay pretty much the same for awhile, that you'll be in Knoxville, working and running?PG: Yeah. After my senior year, I looked at all the big clubs around. I checked out the Hansons and ZAP Fitness. And Chris Graff (another Long Islander) was out with the Farm Team, and I thought that might be a good situation. For almost a year, I stayed in Knoxville after I graduated, and I thought I needed a change, because I was just getting beaten up and just getting injured with little things. I wasn't working after I graduated, so I think I was putting too much pressure on myself with running. Then I just came to the conclusion maybe it's time for a change, maybe I need to move on.

I moved on. I was in Michigan with the Hansons for about six months. I got injured the first week I was there. I had high hopes going into it, but the injury put a bad taste in my mouth and all of the sudden it was like 'maybe I should rethink this.' I had to sit out eight weeks while I was in Michigan, so I really didn't even get much running done while I was there. The process of coming back took quite awhile. It was an unfortunate thing, because at the time I thought the Hansons training program would have suited me. But when I looked back and thought some more, I had done fairly well training under Coach Watts, so when it really came down to it, I should have probably stuck it out anyway. This (Knoxville) is where I needed to be. I really like the consistency that I have now with George Watts. He knows me, sometimes, better than I know myself. There are some days when he can tell when I'm going to have a good one and then some days when maybe we need to cut it back a little bit because I'm not looking too hot. It's great being here. I don't foresee any change in the near future. ?? ? ? ?RWD: What are your realistic expectations in the 10,000 this year?PG: Well, Coach thinks it's reasonable to take 25 seconds off your 10,000 time a year. So that puts me at about a 28:13. I'm training right now with the intention that I can run 28:10 or so. I went in last year not having run under 29:00 ever and wanting to run under 28:40. I'd never even qualified for the USA Championships before. After getting that time last year and finishing in the top ten at the U.S. outdoor meet, I want to maybe set the bar a little bit higher--instead of just wanting to get to the meet, I want to be able to place better and compete a little bit better. So somewhere in the 28:10 range would be the goal, hopefully.

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